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"HE,  BEING  DEAD,  YET  SPEAKETH." 


TWO  DISCOURSES, 


OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 


HON.   JOHN    HALL 


DELIVERED  OCTOBER  3rd,  1847, 


BY  NATHANIEL  hIeGGLESTON, 

PASTOE   OF    THE   CONGREGATIONAL  CHWBCH^  lajELLINGTON,   CONN. 


SYRACUSE: 

printed   FOR   THE  FAMILY   AND    FRIENDS   OF   THE  DECEASED 
BY   BARNS,    SMITH   &   COOPER. 

1848. 


HE,  BEING  DEAD,  YET  SPEAKETH. 


TWO  DISCOURSES, 


OCC.^IONED  BY  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 


HON.   JOHN   HALL 


DELIVERED  OCTOBER  3ed,  1S47, 


BY  NATHANIEL  H.  EGGLESTON, 

PASTOR   OF   THE   CONGREGATIO>'AL  CHURCH,   IN  ELLINGTON,   CONN. 


SYRACUSE: 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  FAMILY  AND  FRIENDS  OF  THE  DECEASED. 

BY  BARNS,  SMITH  &  COOPER. 

1848. 


To  THE  Family  and  Friends  of  the  Deceased  : 

These  Discourses,  necessarily  written  in  the  utmost  possible  haste,  and 
which  I  have  neither  time  to  rewrite  nor  to  revise  in  any  just  manner,  I  should 
not  suffer  to  appear  in  a  printed  form,  even  for  private  circulation,  were  it  not 
for  the  presumption,  which  I  indulge,  that  the  few  who  are  expected  to  be  my 
readers,  will  vacate  the  office  of  literary  criticism  in  the  more  grateful  occupa- 
tion of  contemplating  eveii  an  imperfect  record  of  the  life  of  one  whom  they 
cherished  with  affectionate  regard,  and  in  the  desire  to  make  his  virtues  con- 
spicuous in  their  own  lives.  N.  H.  E. 


DISCOURSE    I. 


HEBREWS  XI.  4 
He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 

Sad  as  Is  death,  under  any  circumstances,  It  Is  not  the 
end  of  us.  It  can  not  prevent  our  living  in  another  world. 
Nay,  we  are  warranted  in  the  supposition  that  death  does 
not  even  put  an  end  to  our  existence  in  this  world,  but  only 
changes  the  outward  form  and  condition  of  our  life,  while, 
so  far  as  the  true  essence  and  end  of  our  being  are  con- 
cerned, we  may  as  truly  live,  even  upon  this  earth,  after 
coldness  has  fallen  upon  our  bodies  and  corruption  seized 
them,  as  before  that  event,  upon  which  we  are  wont  to  look 
with  so  much  dread.  For  aught  that  we  know,  the  disem- 
bodied spirits  of  the  dead  may  be  inhabiting  the  earth  with 
us,  witnessing  its  scenes  and  occupied  with  its  pursuits,  as 
truly  as  when  they  dwelt  here,  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood. 
But  whether  we  credit  such  a  literal  life  on  earth  after  our 
bodily  death,  or  refuse  to  give  credence  to  any  such  exist- 
ence, it  is  yet  true,  beyond  all  gainsaying,  that  man  does, 
in  some  important  manner,  survive  upon  earth  the  dissolu- 
tion of  his  physical  frame.  In  his  example,  in  the  legiti- 
mate consequences  of  his  conduct,  in  the  results  of  his 
plans,  in  the  lessons  imparted  by  his  visible  acts,  he  lives 
long  after  his  body  has  been  consigned  to  the  grave  and 
corruption  has  laid  hold  of  his  flesh. 

It  is  a  dignified  view  of  life  which  we  gain,  when  we  thus 
regard  it  as  free  from  any  serious  interruption,  by  death. 
It  opens  upon  us  the  sight  of  our  immortality,  and  reminds 


ivi76ll37 


us  that  we  are  not  made  to  live  only  as  the  brutes,  and  like 
them  to  perish ;  but  are  creatures  of  a  higher  mould  and 
a  nobler  destiny  than  they; 

And  Avhen  this  view  is  taken,  of  a  life  well  ordered  dur- 
ing its  condition  of  bodily  existence,  it  becomes  at  the  same 
time  one  of  an  elevated  and  consoling  character.  "Whether 
we  contemplate  our  own  decease  or  that  of  friends,  there 
is  much  to  mitigate  the  sorrow  which  such  bereavement 
necessarily  occasions,  when  we  can  believe  that  an  exam- 
ple and  an  influence  of  goodness  and  virtue  are  still  to 
remain  on  earth,  after  the  bodily  form,  through  which 
they  have  hitherto  been  manifested,  has  perished  forever. 
When  these  are  left  to  us,  we  can  dismiss  the  corporeal 
structure  with  comparatively  little  reluctance. 

It  is  with  this  exalted  view  of  human  life  that  the  apos- 
tle uses  the  language  of  the  text,  in  regard  to  one  who 
lived  well  nigh  six  thousand  years  ago.  Abel,  the  second 
man  born  on  earth,  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Bible  with 
few  details  of  life  or  character.  We  barely  learn  that  hia 
occupation  was  that  of  a  herdsman  ;  that  on  a  certain  oc- 
casion he  manifested  his  regard  for  God  by  ofl'ering  to  him 
in  sacrifice  a  portion  of  his  flock,  and  that  in  a  fit  of  jeal- 
ousy his  brother  took  his  life. 

Our  first  thought  on  reading  this  narrative  is,  that  Abel 
lived  in  vain,  so  soon,  as  it  would  seem,  is  his  earthly  ex- 
istence terminated.  But  God  creates  nothing  in  vain, 
nothing  which  fails  to  accomplish  a  valuable  end.  Abel's 
bodily  form  was  not  essential  to  the  securing  of  God's  pur- 
pose in  him.  In  the  simple  fact  of  his  ofl'ering  to  God  a 
sacrifice  from  his  flock,  there  was  that  which  had  an  im- 
portance, independent  of  all  corporeal  organization.  There 
was  that  which  could  act  upon  the  world,  age  after  age 
forever.  There  was  in  it  the  proof  that,  in  that  early 
period  of  the  world,  God  was  not  without  sufficient  witness 


5 

to  men  of  his  goodness  and  his  rightful  chiim  upon  their 
love  and  obedience.  There  was  that  in  it  "vvhich  indicated 
that  Abel  saw  reason  to  put  his  trust  in  God.  Having  put 
forth  this  one  act  alone,  Abel  could  die  and  yet  not  leave  the 
world  unbenefitted  by  his  living  in  it.  The  testimony  of 
that  act  has  come  down  the  lapse  of  centuries ;  it  has  sur- 
vived the  flood,  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  all  the  acci- 
dents of  the  world's  history.  It  has  even  reached  us,  and 
Abel,  though  dead,  yet  speaketh.  He  speaks  of  God,  of 
faith  and  duty.  Speaking  thus,  he  lives  most  truly,  and 
is  superior  to  the  bondage  of  a  mortal  dissolution.  We 
welcome  him  as  a  cotemporary  with  us.  We  hear  his 
words.     Well  is  it  if  we  are  ready  to  give  heed  to  them. 

The  instance  of  Abel  is  only  one  illustration  of  a  gene- 
ral fact.  Like  him,  Noah  and  Jacob,  and  David  and  Paul, 
though  long  since  dead  to  bodily  sight,  yet  live  and  speak 
to  us.  Like  him,  all  the  worthies  of  all  ages  still  speak 
to  us. 

'^ Though  dead,  they  speak  in  reason's  ear, 
And  m  example  live  ; 
Their  faith  and  hope  and  mighty  deeds, 
Still  fresh  instruction  give."' 

So,  likewise,  it  is  true  of  every  man  after  death,  that 
though  dead  he  speaketh.  He  leaves  behind  him  an  exam- 
ple and  a  character  of  some  kind,  which  have  a  voice  that 
will  be  heard,  through  a  sphere  of  greater  or  less  extent; 

But  especially  is  this  fact  noticeable  and  worthy  of  con- 
sideration in  the  case  of  those  who  have  occupied  a  con- 
spicuous position  among  their  fellow  men.  Nothing  can 
he  more  manifestly  true,  than  that  such  persons  survive 
the  dissolution  of  their  bodies,  and  have  a  voice  which  is 
heard  long  after  the  grave  has  closed  upon  their  corporeal 
structure.  Though  dead,  they  speak  ;  and  speak  with  a 
power  and  influence  proportionate  to  the  providential  posi- 
tion and  the  real  character  of  their  visible  lives. 


6 

The  recent  death  of  an  honored  member  of  this  commu- 
nity is  Avell  calculated  to  deepen  our  convictions  of  the  fact 
that  the  grave  is  not  the  end  of  us ;  and  I  shall  therefore 
make  it  my  object,  in  what  I  have  now  to  say,  to  set  forth 
this  very  important  fact,  as  it  is  illustrated  in  his  history. 

Before  I  proceed  directly  to  my  main  purpose,  however, 
a  brief  summary  of  his  life  will  not  be  without  interest, 
nor  out  of  place. 

John  Hall  was  born  in  this  town,  February  26,  1783. 
He  was  the  youngest  of  four  children,  and  an  only  soni 
One  of  his  sisters  died  at  an  early  age.  ,  The  others  were 
married,  the  one  to  the  Rev.  Diodate  Brockway,  and  the 
other  to  Levi  Wells,  late  of  this  place.  His  father,  whose 
name  was  also  John  Hall,  was  a  merchant  in  the  South- 
East  part  of  this  town,  a  man  of  distinguished  business 
habits,  a  devoted  christian,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  ai 
Beacon  of  this  church. 

Of  the  earlier  life  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  compara- 
tively little  is  known.  He  fitted  for  College  with  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Prudden  of  Enfield,  and  was  then  distinguished  as  a 
scholar.  He  entered  Yale  College,  as  a  Freshman,  in  the 
year  1798,  two  years  after  the  death  of  his  father,  and 
throughout  his  collegiate  course  maintained  a  high  rank  for 
scholarship  and  correct  deportment.  He  early  attracted 
the  favorable  notice  of  Dr.  Dwight,  then  President  of  the 
College,  which  notice  grew  into  warm  friendship  continu- 
ing through  the  life  of  the  latter.  In  the  year  1804,  Mr. 
Hall  was  made  a  Tutor  in  College  and  acted  as  such  until 
the  year  1807,  when  he  returned  to  Ellington,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  permanent  residence,  and  for  a  short  time  was 
connected  in  business  with  the  late  Mr.  Wells.  He  after- 
wards purchased  a  farm,  which  he  continued  to  improve 
until  about  the  year  1830.  At  the  early  age  of  twenty-nine 
he  was  made  Judge  of  the  Court  of  this  county,  and  held  the 
office  for  several  years.     He  represented  this  town  twice  in 


the  State  Legislature,  in  the  years  1815  and  1819.  He 
also  held  the  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  for  several  years. 
In  the  year  1817,  when  a  candidate  for  Congress,  the  po- 
litical party  to  which  he  was  attached  was  unsuccessful 
throughout  the  State.  In  the  year  1820,  he  retired,  from 
choice,  from  political  life,  and  thenceforth  took  no  active 
part  in  political  affairs. 

In  the  year  1825,  he  established,  at  his  own  expense,  a 
Select  School.  This,  in  the  year  1829,  grew  into  the  pre- 
sent High  School,  the  duties  of  Principal  of  which  he  dis- 
charged until  within  a  few  years  of  his  death. 

Soon  after  his  first  marriage,  Mr,  Hall  was  brought  to 
the  verge  of  the  grave  by  a  violent  attack  of  typhus  fever, 
in  consequence  of  which  his  eyes  were  permanently  weak- 
ened, and  his  physical  powers  so  enfeebled  as  to  prevent 
him  from  making  much  bodily  exertion  at  any  subsequent 
period.  But  though  thus  cut  off,  in  a  great  measure  from 
the  use  of  books  and  the  physical  toils  of  life,  he  was  by  no 
means  idle.  T\Tien  hands  and  eyes  failed,  his  thoughts 
gave  him  ample  employment ;  and  that  this  employment 
was  not  without  profitable  results  was  testified  by  his  con- 
versation, his  writings,  and  his  occasional  public  remarks. 

At  the  close  of  his  senior  year  in  college,  Mr.  Hall  be- 
came hopefully  pious,  and  throughout  the  remainder  of  his 
life  maintained  a  consi>.ent  and  eminent  Christian  charac- 
ter. Eew  have  studied  the  Bible  more  diligently  than  he. 
It  was  his  daily  habit,  not  only  to  read  it,  but  to  study  it 
with  all  the  ability  of  his  own  mind  and  the  critical  help  of 
others.  He  studied  it  abundantly,  and  it  rendered  back  to 
him  abundant  consolation. 

He  was  one  who  had  seen  afliiction.  A  wife,  sisters,  a 
son  of  much  promise  who  bore  his  own  name,  a  year  since  a 
daughter,  and  but  two  short  months  ago  a  beloved  son  on 
■whom  his  old  age  had  begun  to  lean, — these  he  was  called 
to  part  with. 


8 

He  took  a  very  warm  interest  in  all  benevolent  move- 
ments, contributing  willingly  to  their  support,  according  to 
liis  means.  For  many  years  he  was  the  President  of  the 
Tolland  County  Missionary  Society,  and  a  Life  Member 
and  Vice  President  of  the  Connecticut  Bible  Society.  On 
the  Sabbath  before  his  death  he  made  inquiry  concerning 
the  recent  meeting  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  and  expressed 
great  interest  in  its  success. 

He  was  a  man  devotedly  attached  to  his  family.  The 
society  of  his  children  was  his  delight,  their  mental  and 
moral  improvement  an  object  of  constant  solicitude,  and  in 
the  desire  to  improve  every  opportunity  of  imparting  in- 
struction, even  his  daily  table  became  a  school.  And  now 
that  he  is  dead,  he  has  left  to  them  the  rich  lessons  of  paren- 
tal wisdom,  and  to  all  the  example  and  the  testimony  of  a 
godly  life. 

Such,  briefly  is  the  history  of  one  who  has  filled  a  large 
place  among  us.  He  is  now  dead.  The  great  event  which 
awaits  all  the  race  of  mankind  has  befallen  him.  Coldness 
has  settled  upon  his  flesh:  his  blood  has  ceased  to  run  its 
wonted  course,  and  we  have  carried  away  liis  lifeless  re- 
mains and  laid  them  down  in  the  grave. 

But,  my  friends,  though  that  form  which  we  so  well 
remember  has  disappeared  forever,  think  not  that  he  who 
bore  that  form  and  animated  it  is  forever  dissociated  from 
us.  No,  blessed  be  God,  man's  life  is  not  confined  to  a 
bodily  organization ;  his  continuance  is  not  dependent  upon 
the  endurance  of  nerves  and  muscles  ;  his  sphere  of  action 
is  not  circumscribed  by  the  limits  of  corporeal  power  and 
corporeal  position.  The  body  is  only  the  temporary  dwel- 
ling place  of  the  soul — the  place  where  the  man  takes  up 
his  abode  while  engaged  in  discharging  a  certain  business 
which  he  has  to  do  in  this  material  world.  The  man  is  not 
there  exclusively.  He  is  abroad  in  the  world,  doing  that 
which  is  before  him  to  be  done.     He  runs  throughout  the 


d 

and  imparting  in  turn,  it  may  be,  to  others  in  almost  every 
clime.  He  is  gaining  lessons  in  history  and  experience 
every  day,  and  is  every  day  imparting  an  influence,  by  his 
life  and  example,  which,  striking  first  those  immediately 
around  him,  transmits  itself  onward,  from  them  to  others, 
until  its  reach  is  bounded  only  by  the  confines  of  the  globe. 

It  is  a  low  view  of  our  nature  which  can  not  see  ourselves 
except  as  we  are  connected  with  a  bodily  structure,  and 
which  regards  man  as  tied  down  to  the  capabilities  of  a 
mass  of  bones  and  muscles.  Rather  are  these  mere  me- 
chanical instruments,  which  we  make  use  of  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attaining  certain  ends,  and  which,  when  the  ends 
are  secured,  we  cast  away  as  things  of  no  further  use. 

My  hearers,  he  who  has  just  vanished  from  our  bodily 
sight  has  not  perished.  He  has  only  left  his  tenement  of 
clay  to  occupy  a  better  one.  He  yet  lives,  lives  as  truly 
as  ever,  nay^  far  more  manifestly  than  when  his  life  was 
controlled  in  a  measure  by  a  physical  organization.  That 
was  a  clog  upon  his  powers  at  times,  preventing  him  from 
accomplishing  what  his  spirit  prompted  to.  Now  we  be- 
lieve he  is  bound  by  no  hindrances  or  impediments  of  such 
a  character.  He  lives.  He  speaks.  He  speaks  to  us  to- 
day, and  will  speak  to  us  and  to  others  for  long  time  to 
come. 

I.  He  speaks  by  the  genekal  impression  of  his  cha- 
EACTER.  In  the  estimation  of  all,  he  was  a  man  of  intel- 
ligence. By  this  I  mean  that  he  possessed  a  high  under' 
standing  and  used  it  with  diligence  and  effectiveness.  The 
powers  of  his  mind  were  naturally  of  a  high  order  and 
capacity.  But  to  this  native  capacity  was  added  the  dis- 
cipline of  a  thorough  education.  Thus  equipped  for  the 
pursuits  of  life,  his  mind  was  not  suffered  to  waste  itself 
in  sloth  nor  dream  itself  aAvay  in  elegant  idleness.  He 
was  always  a  busy  man:  never  supposing  that  he  had 


10 

nothing  to  do  or  nothing  to  learn,  and  so  he  made  con- 
stant additions  to  the  sum  of  his  knowledge.     Nor  was 
this  knowledge  of  a  comparatively  useless  character.     He 
was  eminently  practical  in  the  tendencies  of  his  mind. 
When  he  thought,  when  he  set  his  mind  to  the  business  of 
reflection,  when  he  bent  it  in  close  and  continuous  study, 
it  was  with  some  practical  end  in  view,  it  was  that  he 
might  accomplish  something  which  should  be  of  real,  sub- 
stantial benefit  to  himself  or  others.     As  a  natural  conse- 
quence, he  gained  among  men  a  reputation  for  intelligence. 
They  respected  his  attainments  and  frequently  sought  his 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  various  plans  and  concerns  of 
life.     His  mind  was  a  treasure  to  the  community,  a  well 
filled  store-house  to  which  they  could  at  any  time  resort. 
He  w^as  a  scholar  through  life.     Unlike  many  however 
whose   lives  are   in  a  considerable   measure   spent  with 
books,  this  did  not  beget  in  him  that  speculative  habit  of 
mind  divorced  from  practical  experience  which  is  continu- 
ally exhausting  itself  in  wild  theories  and  visionary  pro- 
jects.    This  fact  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention  as  a  vindi- 
cation of  true  scholarship  from  the  disrepute  into  which 
these  visionary  dreamers  are  continually  bringing  it.    You 
know,  my  hearers,  at  least  those  of  you  who  have  attained 
a  life  of  mature  years,  by  a  happy  experience  in  the  case 
of  him  whose  death  we  all  lament,  that  one  who  is  a  close 
student  may  be  none  the  less  fitted,  by  reason  of  his  books 
or  his  hours  of  studious  reflection,  for  all  the  ordinary  of- 
fices and  pursuits  of  life. 

But  not  only  was  Mr.  Hall  a  man  of  acknowledged  in- 
telligence, he  was  likewise  a  person  of  upright  character. 
Nor  was  he  one  of  those  who  claim  and  sometimes  receive 
the  praise  due  to  uprightness  of  character,  but  whose  up- 
rightness is  simply  that  cautious  policy  or  studious  selfish- 
ness which  carefully  avoids  overstepping  the  limits  of  ac- 


11 

knowledged  rights  and  obligations,  wliile  it  is  "willing  to 
take  advantage  of  ignorance  or  misconception  to  further 
its  own  objects.  He  was  above  all  this.  He  was  not  one 
of  those  who  are  ever  ready  to  talk  of  the  beauty  of  an 
honest  life,  or  to  make  their  boast  of  the  possession  of  the 
virtue  which  is  implied  in  such  a  course  of  living.  He  had 
the  virtue,  however,  without  the  boasting.  The  upright 
attitude  of  his  body  was  in  fine  keeping  with  the  character 
of  the  man  and  was  a  free  expression  of  it.  His  course 
of  life  was  not  the  devious  track  of  expediency  and  selfish 
policy,  but  the  straight  forward  line  of  sober  truth  and 
steadfast  principle.  No  one,  I  believe,  ever  ventured  to 
charge  him  with  duplicity  or  a  willingness  to  deceive  under 
any  circumstances.  It  would  be  saying  little  of  such  a 
man  to  say  that  he  kept  within  the  bounds  of  statutory  jus- 
tice and  never  infringed  the  well  known  rio-hts  of  others. 
This  is  a  character  which  is  consistent  with  an  utter  lack 
of  good  principle  and  Avhich  the  veriest  knave  may  wear 
under  the  garb  of  an  external  fairness  and  gentility.  It 
was  a  characteristic  of  Mr.  Hall  not  only  to  refrain  from 
trespassing  upon  rights  ivell  knoivn,  but  to  forbear  indulg- 
ing in  any  act  which  might  infringe  the  possible  rights  of 
others.  But  you  all  understand  his  character  too  well  in 
this  respect  to  require  from  me  any  further  exhibition  of  it. 
He  left  behind  him,  as  all  will  agree,  the  reputation  of  an 
upright  life,  a  reputation  which  is  far  from  being  attained 
by  all  men. 

But  what  is  yet  higher  praise,  Mr.  Hall  was  a  man  of 
unquestioned  lyiety.  This  was  the  crowning  excellence  of 
the  man,  and  this  imparted  an  element  of  its  own  kind  to 
his  other  characteristic  qualities.  This,  without  question, 
made  him  a  more  intelligent  man  than  he  would  otherwise 
have  been,  and  this  was  the  soul  of  his  uprightness.  There 
is  a  power  in  religion  not  only  to  soften  and  warm  the  heart 
and  give  birth  to  all  good  and  happy  affections,  but  a  power 


12 

likewise  to  impart  strength  and  vigor  to  the  intellectual 
faculties,  and  thus  makes  him  who  receives  it  into  his  soul 
at  the  same  time  a  better  and  a  wiser  man. 

Mr.  Hall  was  a  religious  man  and  experienced  the  value 
of  a  religious  life.  A  student,  of  the  closest  habits  of  ap- 
plication, he  made  the  Bible  one  of  his  classics,  and  pored 
over  its  pages  when  his  children  wondered  how  he  could 
be  so  interested  and  absorbed  in  that  familiar  household 
book.  A  man  of  independent  thought,  who  called  no  man 
master,  and  was  willing  to  follow  truth  let  it  lead  him 
whither  it  might,  he  found  in  the  precepts  and  expositions 
of  the  sacred  volume  that  which  commended  itself  to  his 
reason,  and  commanded  with  the  voice  of  supreme  autho- 
rity the  implicit  obedience  of  his  life.  The  religion  of 
such  a  man  is  indeed  a  religion  of  value  and  a  thing  of  ex- 
alted character.  It  is  not,  for  it  cannot  be,  a  matter  of 
mere  feeling,  a  thing  of  frames  and  sympathetic  impulse. 
It  is  first  of  all  established  in  the  deepest  convictions  of  the 
understanding,  and  then  is  admitted  to  the  cells  of  feeling 
and  emotion.  Such  a  man  obeys"God,  not  so  much  because 
he  feels  it  to  be  seemingly  and  desirable,  as  because  he 
knozos  it  to  be  right.  Such  a  religion  is  not  dependent  for 
its  own  comfort  upon  the  contagious  emotions  of  others, 
but  relying  on  its  own  firm  basis  of  well  established  con- 
viction, holds  fast  its  communion  with  God  and  finds  con- 
tinual life  and  peace  therein. 

Such  was  the  religion  of  our  departed  brother :  a  calm, 
quiet,  sober  religion  ;  but  a  religion  which  could  stand  up 
and  maintain  itself  manfully  and  rationally  against  all  the 
cavils  and  reasonings  of  skepticism  or  infidelity.  It  bore 
him  through  the  world  calmly  and  steadfastly  amid  many 
and  severe  trials,  and  proved  itself  a  true  and  a  valuable 
religion,  inasmuch  as  it  brought  him  out  of  every  scene  of 
trouble  with  his  faith  in  God  unshaken,  and  his  confidence 
in  the  truth  of  the  scriptures  undiminished.     It  sustained 


13 

him  in  his  final  decline  to  the  grave,  not  indeed  in  raptur- 
ous ecstacy,  not  without  some  anxious  self-examination,  but 
yet  with  a  steady  reliance  upon  the  Redeemer,  in  whom  he 
had  long  trusted,  and  with  a  quiet  resignation  to  the  will 
of  his  God.  The  life  is  the  best  test  of  piety,  not  the 
couch  of  sickness  and  pain,  and  tried  in  this  way,  all  con- 
fess that  Mr.  Hall  was  a  man  whose  life  was  governed  by 
the  precepts  of  the  Bible. 

Since  his  death  I  have  f:und  a  hymn  which  he  wrote 
and  which  expresses  so  accui-ately  the  state  of  his  mind  a 
few  days  before  he  died,  that  I  cannot  forbear  to  quote  it. 
It  is  founded  on  the  question  which  Christ  put  to  Peter, 
"Lovest  thou  me?" 

'•Love  I  thee,  thou  blest  Redeemer? 
Love  I  thee,  thou  sinner's  friend? 
Love  I  thee,  my  soul's  preserver? 
Whither  can  such  question  tend? 

Well  I  know  my  heart  is  fickle; 
Well  I  know  the  force  of  sin; 
Well  I  know  a  subtle  tempter, 
Foe  to  virtue,  lurks  within. 

Still  the  question  gives  me  anguish, 
When  I  hear  it  put  by  thee ; 
Dost  tJwu,  Lord,  indeed  suspect  me  ? 
Dost  thou  some  unsoundness  see  ? 

By  thy  spirits'  power  to  quicken, 
By  thine  own  sufficient  might, 
Set  me  free  firom  all  deception  ; 
Keep  me  safely — keep  me  right. 

Grace  to  lean  upon  thy  bosom, 
Grace  to  purify  and  save, 
Grace,  till  I  arrive  in  heaven, — 
Grace,  eternal  grace,  I  crave." 

Thus,  my  friends,  he  who  is  gone  speaks  to  us,  and  that 


14 

most  forcibly,  in  the  knowledge  of  his  character,  as  that  of 
an  intelligent,  upright,  and  Christian  man. 

II.  But  he  speaks  also  hj  the  void  created  hy  Ms  death. 
We  miss  him  as  a  counsellor,  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 
We  can  no  more  go  to  him  and  receive  the  advice  of  his 
"wisdom,  and  the  assistance  of  his  judgment  in  matters  of 
taste  and  policy.  We  miss  him  in  the  street.  We  hear  no 
more  his  words  by  the  way-side.  His  feet  have  ceased  to 
cross  our  thresholds.  We  can  not  go  and  meet  him  in  his 
own  dwelling,  where  so  kind  a  welcome  awaited  those  who 
came.  We  can  not  rely  upon  his  voice  to  be  raised  in  ad- 
vocacy of  every  hopeful  purpose  and  in  rebuke  of  every 
wrong.  We  miss  him  in  the  church,  the  place  he  loved, 
the  place  he  honored,  the  place  he  adorned.  Who  shall 
come  to  us  month  by  month  with  intelligence  of  the  gospel's 
progress  in  that  capital  of  Greece,  where  Paul  first  planted 
the  standard  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  ?*  Who  will  stand 
in  his  place  at  the  weekly  meeting  for  prayer  and  religious 
conference  and  give  us  his  enlightened  counsel  to  correct  our 
errors  and  impart  new  strength  to  our  faith  ?  Who  will 
stand  up  in  his  stead  before  this  community  to  commend 
religion  to  all  as  a  means  of  happiness,  and  to  testify  to  all 
that  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  will  withstand  the  scrutiny 
of  the  keenest  intellect  and  the  most  labored  investigation  ? 
Alas !  the  church  mourns  the  loss  of  one  whose  place  will 
not  be  speedily  filled.  The  interests  of  religion,  the  cause 
of  truth,  the  best  hopes  of  a  man,  have  lost  an  advocate  and 
friend  whose  loss  is  a  public  calamity.  And  permit  me 
to  bear  my  testimony  to  his  value.  I  can  say,  from  the 
deepest  conviction,  the  friend,  the  counsellor,  the  helper  is 


*  Note. — Reference  is  here  made  to  the  fact  that  in  our  arrange- 
ment of  the  monthly  prayer  meeting  for  the  spread  of  Christian  truth 
throughout  the  world,  we  assign  dilierent  portions  of  the  world  to  dif- 
ferent members  of  the  church,  as  their  field  of  special  investigation, 
and  that  in  this  arrangement,  to  Mr.  Hall  Greece  and  Turkey  were 
assigned. 


15 

gone.  By  his  death  there  is  a  void  created  which  none 
can  feel  more  sensibly,  save  the  immediate  relatives,  than 
he  whose  office  it  is  to  preach  the  gospel  here  and  to 
take  the  oversight  of  the  church  which  God  has  here 
planted.  May  God  himself  fill  the  place  now  made  vacant 
by  new  and  larger  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Do  you  not  hear  the  voice  of  our  absent  brother  thus 
speaking  through  his  very  absence  ?  Me  thinks  I  hear  it 
everywhere  ;  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  place  of  business 
and  in  the  house  of  worship ;  and  everywhere  I  receive 
the  assurance  that  though  dead,  he  speaketh. 


DISCOURSE    II. 


III.  I  arrested  my  discourse  this  morning,  after  having 
led  you  to  notice  the  fact  that  our  brother,  whose  recent  death 
we  all  lament,  still  speaks  to  us  by  the  general  impression  of 
the  character  which  he  sustained  among  us,  and  by  the  void 
which  his  death  has  created.  These,  however,  are  not  the 
only  ways  in  which  he  speaks  to  us.  There  is  a  voice  to 
which  none  of  us  can  be  deaf,  which  comes  from  the  more 
obvious  ivoi'Tcs  and  labors  of  the  man.  These,  the  proper 
treatment  of  our  subject  demands  that  we  notice.  And 
where,  my  hearers,  can  we  turn  our  eyes,  without  behold- 
ing the  proofs  that  Mr.  Hall  has  spent  his  life  here  ?  In 
what  direction  can  we  look,  without  meeting  the  witnesses 
of  his  labor,  the  evidences  of  his  intelligence,  the  tokens  of 
his  '-^ste?  Who  can  look  out  upon  the  face  of  oui*  Town 
without  hailing  him  as  a  public  benefactor  ? 

Mr.  Hall  was  a  student,  as  I  have  said,  and  eminent  in 
scholarship,  and  it  might  be  supposed  that  a  student  would 
be  little  esteemed  and  counted  of  little  value,  in  a  place  so  ex- 
clusively agricultural  as  this.  The  notion  has  possessed  the 
minds  of  many,  that  the  only  labor  and  worth  are  those  of 
the  husbandman  or  mechanic.  But  who,  I  ask,  took  almost 
the  first  step  toward  making  this  valley  a  desirable  and  a 
profitable  place  of  residence  to  the  farmer  ?  Was  it  not  a 
student  ?  Was  it  not  a  man  of  books  ?  Was  it  not  Mr. 
Hall  ?     He  it  was,  unless  I  am  very  much  in  error,  who, 


18 

by  tlic  example  of  his  judicious  plans  and  experiments, 
taught  others  how  to  turn  a  large  portion  of  this  pleasant 
valley  from  almost  a  waste  into  a  garden. 

Pie  was  a  pioneer  in  introducing  that  improved  system 
of  agriculture  which  is  combining  the  principles  of  science 
with  the  physical  strength  of  the  husbandman,  and  while 
it  makes  his  labors  less  exhausting  and  more  productive, 
confers  upon  them  the  dignity  of  an  intellectual  process, 
and  renders  them  the  instruments  of  a  refined  happiness 
before  unthought  of.  He  undertook  to  apply  philosophy 
to  agriculture,  rightly  judging  that  He  who  made  the  earth 
to  yield  its  increase  for  the  support  of  man,  had  made  it  to 
yield  its  increase  in  obedience  to  certain  and  definite  laws. 
In  the  endeavor  to  apply  the  principles  of  science  to  the 
culture  of  the  earth,  he  experimented,  as  every  true  philo- 
sopher does.  Doubtless,  too,  he  sometimes  failed  of  the 
expected  results,  as  every  philosopher  and  every  man  does 
at  times.  At  others  he  succeeded,  and  so  advanced  to  cer- 
tainty and  dignity  the  occupation  of  the  husbandman.  But 
a  failure  in  philosophy  is  not  a  thing  to  be  ashamed  of,  nor 
a  thing  of  no  positive  value.  If  he  was  successful,  others 
have  the  results  of  that  success.  If  any  experiment  disap- 
pointed his  expectations,  it  yet  did  others  a  service  in  warn- 
ino;  them  and  saving  them  the  cost  of  a  similar  trial.  Thus 
we  profit  by  the  success  as  well  as  by  the  failure  of  oth- 
ers. The  man  of  parts  works  out  his  own  fortune,  not 
only  with  his  hands  but  also  with  his  head,  while  he  who 
is  too  dull  for  this  may  yet  look  over  the  fence  and  borrow 
or  steal  the  wisdom  which  another  has  brought  to  light. 
The  man  who  reclaims  a  sand  barren  or  a  marsh,  and  makes 
it  susceptible  of  cultivation,  though  his  coined  money  may  be 
diminished  thereby,  is  necessarily  none  the  poorer  on  that 
account,  but  may  leave  a  legacy  for  his  children  far  better 
than  the  treasures  of  the  bank.     He  has  changed  his  wealth 


19 

from  a  form  in  ■svliicli  it  might  be  lost  to  one  as  permanent 
as  the  rocky  globe  itself.  Silver  and  gold  are  only  certain 
kinds  of  earth,  and  none  the  better  because  they  shine. 

Mr.  Hall,  then,  speaks  to  us  as  the  intelligent  husband- 
man, as  the  husbandman  who  tilled  the  ground,  not  for  his 
own  benefit  alone,  but  for  the  profit  of  all  around  him.  He 
speaks  in  these  green  fields ;  and  he  will  continue  to  speak 
from  them.  As  often  as  these  acres  shall  sprout  up  in  the 
verdure  of  spring,  or  groan  under  their  autumnal  burden, 
they  will  be  his  voice  to  those  who  dwell  here,  reminding 
them  that  he  was  once  an  inhabitant  of  this  place. 

He  speaks,  too,  from  these  noble  trees,  whose  drooping 
limbs  hang  down  as  though  to  weep  in  concert  with  us,  and 
whose  leaves  are  falling  into  the  grave  with  him  whose  pro- 
vident care  has  made  them  our  shelter  and  delight.  They 
are  his  living  monument,  and  as  there  are  "tongues  in 
trees,"  he  shall  speak  through  them  in  long  time  to  come. 
They  are  the  monuments  of  his  taste,  and  of  his  goodness 
also  ;  for  his  hand  planted  them,  for  no  purpose  of  exclu- 
sive benefit  to  himself.  They  have  been  the  charm  of  our 
village.  They  have  elicited  the  admiration  of  the  passing 
traveler.  They  have  been  our  boast.  They  have  encour- 
aged us  to  plant  around  oui-  dwellings  the  trees  on  which 
God  has  conferred  so  many  qualities  of  beauty  and  value. 
And  when  we  have  gone  down  to  the  grave,  to  lie  beside 
him  who  planted  them,  they  will  still  speak  to  our  children 
and  they  will  delight  to  make  mention  of  him  who  did  so 
much  to  make  the  place  of  their  habitation  a  place  of  beau- 
ty and  comfort. 

But  these  venerable  trees  speak  to  us  not  in  lessons  of 
taste  and  comfort  alone.  They  have  lessons  also  of  a  reli- 
gious character.  They  tell  us  that  one  has  lived  here  who 
was  not  wrapped  up  in  his  own  immediate  comfort  and 
gratification  alone,  having  no  care  for  the  comfort  of  oth- 


20 

crs.  They  stand  here  rather,  in  storm  and  sunshine,  in 
the  heat  of  summer  and  amid  the  blasts  of  "winter,  to  tell 
us  of  one  who,  in  laying  plans  for  his  own  welfare,  forgot 
not  that  of  others  ;  and  one  who,  while  gratifying  his  own 
tastes,  had  an  eye  to  the  interests  and  enjoyment  of  all. 

Such  a  person  must  be  remembered  with  grateful  emo- 
tion, when  he  whose  labor  and  wealth  are  expended  upon 
his  own  gratification  alone  is  utterly  forgotten,  or  is  re- 
membered only  as  an  instance  of  selfishness. 

My  friends,  these  trees  are  a  substantial  blessing  to  us 
all.  They  add  beauty  to  our  dwelling-place.  They  refresh 
us  in  our  summer  walks,  after  the  labors  of  the  day.  They 
cast  their  grateful  shade  along  our  path,  as  we  come  to  the 
house  of  God.  They  inspire  us  with  happy  emotions  and 
beget,  amid  the  rugged  employments  of  life,  a  love  of  grace 
and  beauty.  Long  may  they  stand,  to  speak  of  him  who 
planted  them,  and  remind  us  of  his  disinterested  regard  for 
the  comfort  and  happiness  of  his  fellow-men. 

And  there  is  a  voice  which  speaks  to  us  from  the  several 
dwellings  which  he  occupied,  a  voice  which  speaks  of  home 
and  all  its  endearments,  of  family  ties  and  household  afiec- 
tions.  Many  of  you  know  that  it  was  considered,  by  not  a 
few,  a  great  mistake  when  Mr.  Hall  selected  yonder  hill 
as  the  site  on  which  to  erect  a  dwelling.  Barren  and  bald 
in  aspect,  and  unproductive  in  its  soil,  to  most  men  it  gave 
little  promise  of  a  proper  reward  to  labor  bestowed  upon 
it.  But  what  was  the  result  ?  A  few  years  of  care  and 
intelligent  culture,  and  the  exercise  of  an  enlightened  taste, 
surrounded  that  dwelling  with  trees  which  cast  their  grate- 
ful shade  upon  its  grounds  or  feasted  the  eye  and  invited 
the  hand  by  their  luxuriant  fruits,  while  they  secluded  its  in- 
mates from  the  obtrusive  gaze  of  the  public,  and  yet  allow- 
ed the  eye  to  look  out  upon  prospects  of  the  f\iirest  beauty. 
It  was  a  remark  of  Mr.  Hall  that  those  people  who  place 
their  dwellings  near  the  road  and  neglect  to  plant  trees  and 


21 

shrubs  about  tliem,  arc  too  little  aware  liow,  in  this  way, 
they  tend  to  prevent  in  their  children  any  attachment  to 
their  home,  because  that  home  is  thereby  rendered  so  un- 
attractive. 

A  wise  remark ;  worthy  to  be  engraved  on  silver.  Home, 
should  be  the  most  blessed  spot  on  earth.  It  should  be  the 
nursery  and  school  of  all  that  is  lovely,  all  that  is  manly, 
and  all  that  is  good.  God  has  set  men  in  families  for  some 
higher  purpose  than  that  they  may  eat  and  drink  together, 
even  that  they  may  glorify  Him  in  every  scene  and  occu- 
pation of  social  life ;  glorify  Him  by  training  each  other 
up  continually  to  habits  of  thrifty  intelligence  and  holy 
virtue.  It  is  not  only  the  policy  therefore,  but  also  the 
duty  of  every  parent  to  make  the  place  where  his  children 
are  growing  up  around  him,  as  beautiful  and  attractive, 
both  within  and  without,  as  it  is  possible  for  him  to  make 
it.  Books,  pictures,  trees,  flowers,  these  are  worth  more 
than  money  hoarded  up  for  children.  Give  them  these  and 
right  counsels  from  parental  lips,  and  when  the  time  comes 
in  the  providence  of  God,  for  them  to  leave  the  home  of 
their  childhood,  they  will  have  the  best  of  all  capital  with 
which  to  obtain  a  livelihood 

But  I  must  not  dwell  on  the  fruitful  themes  which  our 
subject  suggests.  There  are  other  voices  speaking  to  us 
from  the  dead. 

As  the  bell  sounds  its  call  to  study  from  that  edifice 
which  looks  down  upon  us  from  yonder  eminence,  it  speaks 
for  him  whose  wisdom  and  whose  regard  for  the  good  of  his 
fellow-men  placed  it  there.  That  building,  erected  for  the 
high  purpose  of  education,  is  a  speaking  monument  to  him 
who  built  it.  It  speaks  to  this  whole  community,  for  by 
its  silent  daily  influence  it  has  touched  the  springs  of 
thought  in  those  who  dwell  here  and  given  us  a  name 
and  honor  above  many  around  us  as  a  people  of  intelligence. 
Let  us  cherish  that  institution  as  the  precious  gift  of  our 


22 

deceased  benefactor,  and  let  it  be  our  continual  rejoicing 
that  our  children  may  groAV  up  to  receive  its  choicest 
blessings. 

Mr.  Hall  like-wise  contributed  to  the  proper  education 
of  the  young,  by  means  of  those  school-books  -which  he  pub- 
lished, and  in  ■v\'hich  he  has  made  a  gift  to  the  public  of  the 
ripe  fruit  of  his  o-wn  scholarship  and  protracted  experience. 
In  them  he  speaks  continually,  ever  addressing  to  the 
young  lessons  of  practical  value  and  sound  ■\>'isdom. 

He  speaks  to  us  also  from  the  very  house  and  home  of 
the  dead.  With  no  unreasonable  attachment  to  the  per- 
ishable body — -which  is  but  the  tenement  of  the  soul,  the 
real  being — he  -was  so  tenderly  attached  to  his  friends,  that 
every  thing  -which  pertained  to  them  had  a  peculiar  value 
in  his  estimation.  His  thoughts  very  naturally,  therefore, 
■would  d-well  -with  a  manifest  interest  upon  the  place  of 
sepulture.  And  as  his  heavenly  father  called  him  from 
time  to  time  to  consign  to  the  grave  the  bodies  of  -\vife  and 
children,  the  place  of  burial  gre-w  more  and  more  valuable 
to  him  year  by  year.  Regarding  the  matter  thus,  he  had 
a  desire  to  see  the  grave-yard  -wearing  the  look  of  careful 
attention  and  affectionate  regard  instead  of  being  the  most 
neglected  and  forsaken  of  all  enclosures.  He  advocated 
therefore,  -with  earnestness  the  laying  out  of  a  ne-w  ceme- 
tery -VN'hile  a  fit  location  could  be  made,  and  had  a  conspicu- 
ous part  in  securing  the  object.  He  speaks  to  us  from  that 
quiet  field  of  mortality.  He  has  laid  his  body  do-wn  there 
■with  the  bodies  of  those  -who  -^-ere  bone  of  his  bone  and 
flesh  of  his  flesh.  But  though  dead,  he  yet  speaketh,  speak- 
eth  not  only  from  all  the  -walks  of  living  men,  but  also  from 
the  resting  place  of  the  dead. 

Such,  briefly  and  imperfectly  noticed,  are  the  voices 
■which  are  sounded  in  our  ears  from  the  dead.  He  speaks 
to  all,  though  the  living  mouth  is  silent  forever  more.     To 


28 

lilm  who  tills  the  ground  ho  speaks  in  the  new  face  which 
the  cultivated  earth  around  him  wears.  To  the  student  he 
speaks  an  unmistaken  language.  To  the  man  of  taste, 
yea,  the  passing  traveler,  and  to  all,  he  speaks  in  yonder 
stately  trunks  and  whispering  leaves;  To  the  lover  of 
home  and  the  charms  of  social  life,  he  speaks  in  the  neat- 
ness and  comfort  wdiich  his  example  has  thrown  around  all 
our  dwellings.  And  to  him  who  visits  the  house  of  God, 
he  speaks  by  what  he  has  done  here,  and  by  his  absence 
now.  Wherever  we  look,  whithersoever  we  turn,  though 
we  see  not  our  departed  brother,  we  yet  hear  his  well 
known  voice,  speaking  in  many  tones  and  uttering  itself  on 
every  side. 

Let  us  now,  after  having  thus  contemplated  the  life  and 
character  of  Mr.  Hall,  in  their  particular  manifestations, 
survey  them  as  a  whole,  and  consider  the  lessons  which  are 
thus  afforded  us. 

I.  And  the  first  one  leads  us  to  see  lioiv  much  one  may 
do  in  this  world.  Mr.  Hall  was  always  a  man  of  feeble 
health.  He  had  but  just  reached  the  age  of  manhood  when 
a  very  severe  illness,  through  which  he  barely  survived, 
prostrated  his  physical  strength  and  left  him  an  invalid  for 
the  remainder  of  his  days.  Incapacitated  thus  for  the 
sturdy  toils  of  the  husbandman,  he  was  unable  to  engage, 
to  any  considerable  extent,  in  the  bodily  labors  upon  his 
farm.  And  while  this  was  so,  his  eye-sight  was  impaired 
in  such  a  degree  as  to  deprive  him,  in  a  measure,  of  the 
society  of  books  or  the  use  of  the  pen. 

The  judgment  of  most  men  would  decide  that  such  a  per- 
son could  accomplish  but  little  in  the  world,  however  pro- 
tracted might  be  his  life.  But  how  far  from  the  truth  such 
a  judgment.  A  man  of  feeble  physical  mould,  he  was  in- 
strumental in  effecting  a  revolution  in  the  agriculture  of  this 
place,  so  that  from  being  proverbial  for  a  lack  of  almost  every 


24 

tiling  wliicli  is  inviting  to  the  cultivator  of  tlie  soil,  it  liaa 
become  distinguished  for  its  productive  beauty,  Deprived 
in  a  measure  of  those  organs  which  are  all  essential  to  the 
student,  he  was  eminent  as  a  man  of  learning,  as  an  in- 
structor of  others,  and  as  the  author  of  text-boohs  which 
are  as  yet  unsurpassed  in  value.  Add  to  this  his  services 
to  the  public  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  on  the 
bench  of  Justice,  and  his  numerous  services  in  Town,  Soci- 
ety and  Church,  and  you  have  an  amount  of  services  and 
labor  Avhich  few  would  dare  to  predict  of  any  man. 

And  here  is  a  most  important  lesson  for  us  all.  It  is  in 
the  power  of  each  and  all  of  us  to  do  much  if  we  will  but 
do  what  we  can.  The  secret  of  Mr.  Hall's  accomplish- 
ments is  this  :  he  did  what  he  coidd ;  he  used  loith  dili- 
gence the  i^ower  which  he  had.  Instead  of  repining  at  the 
loss  of  vigorous  health,  he  went  on  to  do  what  his  actual 
health  would  allow  him  to  do.  Instead  of  bemoaning  the 
loss  of  a  keen  vision,  he  used  his  eyes  as  he  was  able,  and 
and  when  he  could  not  bear  the  light  of  the  outward  world 
he  explored  the  chambers  of  his  mind  and  labored  to  dis- 
cover what  is  within  man.  Thus  he  was  always  busy.  He 
was  a  laboring  man  in  the  truest  sense.  He  diligently  em- 
ployed those  faculties  which  God  permitted  him  to  use. 
This  is  all  that  any  one  can  do ;  and  whoever  will  do  this 
will  be  able  to  do  much.  We  wrong  ourselves,  and  we  dis- 
honor our  Maker  when  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  remiss  in 
cifort  because  we  have  not  a  good  prospect  of  accomplish- 
ing all  that  we  desire.  There  is  no  surer  way  to  make 
our  lives  a  useless  blank  than  to  fall  into  such  a  disposition. 
God  moreover  has  allotted  us  that  work  precisely  which  it 
is  best  in  all  respects  for  us  to  do,  and  has  given  us  the  ne- 
cessary powers  by  which  to  perform  that  work ;  and  we  im- 
peach at  the  same  time  his  wisdom  and  his  goodness  when  we 
neglect  to  do  with  diligence  that  which  he  has  assigned  us 


25 

II.  Again,  the  life  of  Mr.  Hall,  contemplated  as  a  whole, 
presents  a  character  in  its  principles  worths/  of  our  emula- 
tion. He  lived  for  the  world.  His  conduct  was  not  gov- 
erned by  selfishness.  He  was  not  absorbed  in  his  own 
comfort  or  reputation,  to  the  disregard  of  the  welfare  of 
others.  On  the  contrary,  while  doing  those  things  and 
laying  those  plans,  which  were  conducive  to  his  own  enjoy- 
ment, he  was  also  busy  in  schemes  for  the  good  of  his  fel- 
low-men. If  he  was  a  man  who  spared  no  pains  in  endea- 
voring to  secure  those  things  which  were  conducive  to  his 
own  enjoyment,  he  found  that  enjoyment  in  pursuits  and 
objects  which  were  also  promotive  of  the  enjoyment  of  others 
besides  himself.  He  was  not  the  man  all-absorbed  in  his  own 
immediate  interest  and  that  of  his  family,  and  bestowing  on 
others  only  that  which  he  could  not  use  for  selfish  ends. 
He  was  not  the  man  to  amass  money  and  turn  away  the 
api^lication  of  the  poor,  or  the  claims  of  benevolence,  with 
what  was  only  a  mockery  of  all  charity.  The  work  which 
he  accomplished,  of  various  kinds,  assures  us  on  every 
hand,  that  he  confessed  the  obligation  and  experienced  the 
pleasure  of  laboring  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-man. 

He  lived  also  to  G-od.  Truth,  duty,  the  will  of  God, 
these,  with  him,  were  the  arbiters  of  his  conduct.  To  them 
he  subordinated  his  life.  Acknowledging  God  as  his  crea- 
tor, and  as  a  being  of  infinite  goodness  and  power,  the  ob- 
ligation of  obedience  was  too  plain  to  be  questioned.  Nor 
did  he  yield  this  obedience  only  in  cases  of  duty  expressly 
declared  in  the  word  of  God,  or  recognized  by  the  universal 
judgment  of  mankind.  He  did  not  allow  himself  to  do 
whatever  was  not  manifestly  wrong,  but  only  that  which 
was  manifestly  right.  And  here,  very  often,  is  the  grand 
distinction  between  the  person  who  lives  to  God  and  the 
one  who  only  professes  to  live  so.  It  was  this  stern  devo- 
tion to  truth  and  right  which  at  times,  perhaps,  gave  Mr. 

Hall  a  repulsive  aspect  to  some,  or  caused  him  to  assume 

4 


26 

an  attitude  of  seeming  opposition.  It  was  because  he  did 
not  believe  in  that  notion  of  expediency,  as  many  do. 
Right,  with  liim  was  right,  and  duty  was  a  thing  to  be  per- 
formed, no  matter  what  interests  of  policy  might  stand  in 
the  way.  If  he  differed  from  others,  it  was  a  matter  of 
conscience ;  it  was  because  he  chose  to  hearken  to  what  he 
deemed  the  voice  of  God,  and  to  obey  that  rather  than  the 
voice  or  the  wishes  of  men.  I  have  often  said  that  I  never 
knew  a  person  more  inflexibly  devoted  to  truth  and  duty 
than  he  was.  And  being  thus  devoted,  he  had  his  reward. 
However  he  might  be  compelled  to  forego  what  promised 
to  prove  valuable  to  himself  or  others ;  however  he  might 
be  obliged  to  renounce  a  favorite  scheme  or  a  darling  pro- 
ject, he  always  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  in  so 
doing  he  had  obeyed  the  ultimate  decisions  of  his  mind  and 
the  supreme  rule  of  conduct. 

Such  an  example,  my  hearers,  is  worthy  of  our  emula- 
tion. We  can  propose  to  ourselves  nothing  higher,  nothing 
nobler,  nothing  more  satisfactory,  than  to  live  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  do  good  to  our  fellow-men  and  honor  the  God 
who  made  us  capable  of  knowing  and  doing  right. 

III.  Again  ;  the  life  which  we  have  been  contemplating 
suggests  the  fact,  that  in  order  to  leave  a  worthy  name 
heJiind  him  one  must  live  for  worthy  objects.  It  is  not  be- 
cause Mr.  Hall  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  intelligence 
that  his  character  warrants  the  public  notice  which  we  give 
it  to-day,  or  the  general  honor  in  which  we  hold  it.  It  is 
not  because  of  any  signal  acts  of  greatness.  It  is  not  be- 
cause of  his  holding  any  post  of  special  honor  among  his 
fellow  men.  These,  any  or  all  of  them,  could  not  render 
his  name  one  of  great  esteem.  But  we  count  him  a  worthy 
man,  because  his  intelligence  was  used  for  worthy  objects; 
because  what  he  did  had  a  tendency  to  promote  the  comfort 
and  welfare  of  others  as  well  as  his  own  ;  because  whatever 
station  of  life  he  occupied,  he  performed  the  duties  of  that 


27 

station  with  honesty  and  scrupulous  fidelity.  For  this  we 
honor  him.  Because  of  this,  he  has  left  a  name  which  we 
shall  not  suffer  to  perish  or  be  lightly  esteemed. 

So  it  must  be  with  all  men.  If  they  would  be  remem- 
bered with  esteem  they  must  live  for  estimable  objects.' 
They  must  live  to  do  right.  They  must  live  to  do  good.  It 
is  one  thing  to  have  a  name  of  note,  and  quite  another  to 
have  a  name  of  worth.  The  very  things  which  often  give 
a  man  the  one  are  what  deprive  him  of  the  other.  To  live 
for  a  selfish  end,  such  as  the  acquisition  of  great  wealth, 
or  family  place,  will  make  one's  sordid  habits  or  aspiring 
endeavors  the  conspicuous  object  of  remark,  while  the  sole 
end  of  such  remark  may  be,  to  hold  his  character  up  to 
execration. 

The  secret  of  a  good  name,  and  especially  of  a  good 
name  after  death,  is  a  good  life.  Owing  to  the  various 
media  through  which  we  behold  men  while  living,  and  ow- 
ing also  to  other  causes,  we  sometimes  assign,  at  first,  the 
wrong  character  to  a  man,  and  he  may  pass  for  a  time  as 
one  better  than  he  really  is.  But  this  judgment  is  sooner 
or  later  corrected :  if  not  during  life,  at  least  it  is  after 
death :  and  as  goodness  and  usefulness  are  the  choicest 
qualities,  in  the  unbiassed  judgment  of  all,  so  all  concur  in 
awarding  the  palm  of  true  worth  to  him  who  has  been  truly 
good. 

IV.  In  view  of  our  subject,  I  cannot  but  remark,  Tioto 
easy  it  is  to  do  good.  The  planting  of  a  tree  by  the  way- 
side is  a  matter  of  little  difficulty,  but  it  will  grow  up  into 
such  a  manifest  blessing  as  to  make  the  deed  remembered 
with  grateful  esteem.  And  so  in  a  thousand  ways  we  have 
it  in  our  power  to  do  good  at  only  a  slight  expenses  to  our- 
selves. God  has  made  man  to  do  good,  and  for  this  end 
has  made  it  easy  for  him  to  do  good.  It  only  needs  a  be- 
nevolent will,  and  a  benevolent  way  can  easily  be  found. 


28 

And  what  is  more,  our  good  deeds,  like  trees,  thoiigli  tliey 
be  small  at  the  outset,  have  a  principle  of  growth  in  them 
•which  causes  them  to  expand  beyond  our  largest  expecta- 
tions. The  good  done  to  a  fellow-man  to-day,  in  the  next 
generation,  may  be  blessing  a  whole  continent.  0,  there 
is  nothing  at  the  same  time  so  precious  and  so  cheap  as 
goodness. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  a  question  to  all,  and  especially 
to  the  young.  I  have  said,  and  you  know  it  to  be  true, 
that  Mr.  Hall  was  a  religious  man,  a  man  of  avowed  and 
strict  piety.  Was  his  [religion  then,  I  ask,  a  weakness  in 
him,  a  blemish,  after  all,  upon  his  character  ?  When  he 
made  all  his  gifts  and  endowments  subject  to  the  will  of 
God,  and  laid  them  down  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  was  it 
done  ignorantly  or  superstitiously  ?  Was  it  the  exhibition 
of  a  strong  mind  for  once  thrown  out  of  its  balance  and  left 
to  act  without  the  guidance  of  reason  ?  Nay,  it  was  the 
highest  exercise  of  reason.  It  was  the  act  of  one  whose 
disciplined  powers  of  mind  were  equal  to  almost  any  inves- 
tigation and  superior  to  any  dictation  of  fashion  or  of  fear. 
It  was  the  act  of  such  a  one  looking  out  upon  the  expanse 
of  creation  around  him,  and  into  the  Bible  before  him,  and 
into  the  depths  of  the  heart  within  him,  and  from  such  a 
various  and  comprehensive  observation  concluding  it  to  be 
his  duty  to  reverence  and  obey  God,  to  believe  the  Bible, 
and  to  make  it  his  endeavor  to  purify  his  heart  from  all  un- 
righteousness. It  was  an  act  performed  intelligently, 
soberly,  deliberately.  It  was  an  act  sanctioned  by  evi- 
dence and  dictated  by  enlightened  judgment.  Is  not  that 
religion  then  deserving  of  your  consideration  and  your  cor- 
dial embrace  ?  Think  not,  in  the  face  of  such  evidence, 
that  it  is  a  thing  for  the  weak  and  the  childish  only.  It  is 
what  commends  itself  to  the  manliest,  and  lays  its  claim 
upon  the  strongest  of  minds.     Do  not  then  do  yourselves 


29 

tlie  discredit  of  refusing  to  make  It  the  ruling  principle  of 
life.  This  is  the  true  good,  beyond  all  question.  Do  not 
fail  then  of  its  immediate  acquisition.  Behold  the  exam- 
ple of  him,  -whose  life  is  to-day  the  theme  of  our  considera- 
tion, and  as  you  acknowledge  the  disciplined  strength  and 
manly  independence  of  his  mind,  make  that  religion  youi'S 
which  he  chose  as  the  law  and  solace  of  his  life. 


Erratum.— On  page  8,  last  line,  it  should  read, — He 
runs  throughout  the  compass  of  the  earth,  accumulating 
possessions  from  every  portion  of  the  globe, 


